Infortis-a i middelskånsk

Abstract

The earliest manuscripts of ‘Skaanske Lov’ (Scanian Law) from c. 1240 to c. 1300 have a high degree of infortis weakening, i.e. -oa > -oæ (or -oe), which is surprising as classical Scanian recorded from people born in the 1800s has no weakening apart from a small area to the southwest of Scania. After 1300 I find a great number of -oæ-manuscripts, but almost just as many with retained -oa . Even in the Swedish era from 1658 there are unambiguous traces of weakening. I explain these findings that at first sight appear perplexing in the following way: The sound shift -oa > -oæ starts in Scania – approximately at the same time as in Zealand and the rest of Denmark – from c. 1160 and is completed during the following centuries, forming a vast area: most of the south (incl. parts of Bornholm), an area around Helsingborg, and an eastern area, but not all Scania. I cannot give the exact boundaries. Around 1700 the oæ-area begins to shrink, leaving only a few parishes with -oæ to the southwest. The new -oa is borrowed from the -oa-area – also under the influence of official Swedish – by the upper classes in the towns and is found in sermons, lectures and all texts intended for reading aloud. From this point on, the majority of Scanians say ‘gamla och frij:a’, like most Swedes, and no longer ‘gamle och frij:e’.